In the manufacture of hollow glass articles, molding machines are used, in which the articles extracted from respective molds are first transferred onto a horizontal supporting plate, and from this onto an unloading conveyor belt. The hollow articles are transferred from the supporting plate to the conveyor by means of a push device, which pushes them along a substantially 90° arc.
The push device comprises a holder having at least one compartment bounded by a rear and a lateral supporting wall forming a right-angle. As the holder rotates along the transfer arc, the hollow article is retained inside the right-angle, resting against the supporting walls, by a stream of compressed air flowing upwards along a substantially vertical channel defined by the supporting walls on one side, and the hollow article on the other.
Though widely used, known solutions of the type described are not altogether satisfactory, by sometimes failing to hold the article stably inside the compartment, regardless of the shape/size of the article and the initial position of the article with respect to the holder, and by sometimes causing visible damage to the article, particularly the parts of it contacting the supporting walls, thus resulting in poor-quality finished products, the necessity to detect and reject any flawed articles, and, hence, in a low output rate of the machine.